New IIM’s ‘dual’ menu

BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY

New Delhi, Dec. 6: A one-year-old business school is set to start a dual degree course in partnership with a foreign institute, joining some of its better-known peers in offering something none of the country’s universities has.

IIM Udaipur, set up last year, will offer the programme in “managing supply chains spanning several nations” from next month in collaboration with the US-based Purdue University.

Sources in the B-school said the institute got the “inspiration” from IIM Calcutta, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Lucknow and IIM Shillong, which have already started dual degree programmes.

IIM-A director S.K. Barua said a dual degree course meant a student who had enrolled for a two-year postgraduate programme in management at an IIM had to clear certain papers in the partnering foreign institution and spend about six months there. “On successful completion of the course, a student gets a PGP certificate from the IIM and the MBA degree from the foreign institution. Dual degrees enhance employability of students in the global space.”

With Udaipur set to join the league, the IIMs have kept intact their lead over universities, as far as dual degrees in collaboration with foreign institutes are concerned.

Sources in higher education regulator UGC said no university in the country has started such courses with a foreign partner, though several have entered into collaborations with foreign institutions for student exchange or training programmes.

The sources said the UGC would notify a regulation to allow foreign varsities to offer dual degrees with any Indian university. “We have provisions for joint degree in the proposed regulation,” a source said. “It will be notified soon.”

Sources in IIM Udaipur said the institute had entered into an agreement with Krannert School of Management of Purdue University, and the 15-month programme had been designed keeping in mind industry requirements.

IIM-A director Barua said the Ahmedabad B-school was offering dual degrees with institutes like ESSEC Business School and HEC School of Management, both in France, and the University of Bocconi, Italy.

IIM Lucknow director Devi Singh said dual degrees help students get international exposure. “They get to know business practices in the other country during their part-course in the foreign institution.”